Chopsticks can be difficult for many people to use due to the manual dexterity and coordination required in manipulating the individual chopsticks so that they work as a unified pair. Many products have been designed to connect the individual chopsticks to provide spring-like action, thereby permitting unskilled users to hold and manipulate the chopsticks more easily.
Solutions include spring-like, flexible bridging members for connecting two chopsticks to form a unified pair. Since an additional, generally plastic, member is required to accomplish this function, the cost of the utensil is increased and, if not reused, the member wastes resources and increases environmental pollution. Further, in a restaurant environment, waiters must inquire as to who needs assistance in using standard chopsticks, making some patrons uncomfortable and requiring extra time.
Integral, tweezer-like tools have been designed for picking up food. However, such complex shapes are generally expensive to manufacture and package. Chopsticks have also been joined near one end using channeled joint portions, with elongated thin slits providing a leaf-spring-like mechanism, wherein a pincer-like function is obtained, the spring elements opening the chopsticks when the user is not squeezing them together. This action also tends to make the chopsticks separate if not carefully held together by a user.
A variation of this latter apparatus includes pair of molded plastic chopsticks joined by an oblique channel close to the upper end of the chopsticks having ribs emerging towards the inside of the channel, whereby the chopsticks are adapted to be snap-fitted together. The lower ends thereof may be brought together because of the flexible nature of the material of fabrication. However, when not being gripped by the user, the geometry of the simple oblique channel allows the chopsticks to rotate so that the angle between them increases and the channel joint no longer holds together. Additionally, this configuration tends to place large shear forces on the channel, making it impractical to manufacture the chopsticks from many common materials.